213 Miles From Shea

The Mets beat the Reds and the Orioles beat the Nationals yesterday therefore the Mets’ magic number is now 3. Last night the Reds took an early 1-0 lead followed by the Mets going up 3-1. Late in the game the Reds tied it, but the Mets were able to string several hits together to go up 6-3 and finished the game 6-4. Tonight the Mets look to keep it going.

Noah Syndergaard is 8-7 over 22 starts and 135.1 innings with a 3.39 ERA. Noah is coming off of a tough game with the Yankees where he allowed 5 ER over 6.0 innings. But going into that game shows a different story. The first two batters of the game got bloop singles and Beltran, the third batter, smacked a bad pitch way of the park. He then cruised for a while racking up 8 strikeouts and then was tagged for another homer off a bad pitch. It’s one of the few games I’ve seen where there was a high turnover of bad pitch into home runs. He faced the Reds earlier the year and it was great as he allowed one earned run over 8.0 innings while striking out 5. The Reds have the following numbers against Noah:

• Phillips 1-4
• Bruce 1-3
• Frazier 1-3
• Hamilton 0-3
• Pena 1-3
• Suarez 0-3
• Votto 0-3

The Mets bats will get a look at Anthony DeSclafani tonight. He’s 9-11 over 29 starts and 173.1 innings with a 3.79 ERA. After back to back starts of 1 ER in September, his last time out he allowed 5 runs, 4 earned over 4.1 innings. He just missed the Mets earlier this season but he faced them last year when he was a member of the Marlins. He allowed 10 ER over 4.2 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Anthony:

• E Young 0-3
• K Johnson 2-5, 2B, HR
• Granderson 1-3
• Duda 2-3
• Murphy 2-3, HR
• Wright 1-2, 2B
• Kirk 2-2, 2 2B
• Uribe 1-1, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets weren’t able to hold off the Braves last night and they dropped the series in New York. After having the lead for the vast majority of the game, Freddie Freeman (who the WOR booth talked about earlier in the game as “not as much of a Met killer this year” came off the bench and hit a two run double and later a three run homer) to put the Braves ahead. Luckily, the Nationals fell apart so the magic number is now 5 with 10 games remaining as the Mets head to Cincy.

Steven Matz is 4-0 over 5 starts and 30.0 innings with 26 K’s and a 1.80 ERA. In his last start he allowed 1 ER over 6.0 innings against the Yankees and overall since returning to the Mets he is 2-0 over 3 starts and 16.1 innings with a 2.20 ERA while striking out 12. His major league debut was against the Reds where he pitched 7.2 innings allowing 2 ER with 6 K’s. The Reds have the following numbers against Matz:

• Votto 0-3
• Bruce 0-1, 2 BB
• Frazier 1-3, HR
• Hamilton 0-3
• Pena 1-3
• Phillips 1-3, HR

Josh Smith is 0-2 over 6 games, 4 starts in his rookie season pitching 18.2 innings with a 7.71 ERA. He faced the Mets back in June and then left the league in his following start before returning this month. Against the Mets he allowed 3 runs, 1 earned over 5.0 innings. His last outing was his first start since returning and he allowed 4 ER over 4.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Smith:

• Duda 0-1
• Flores 0-3
• Granderson 1-3, 2B
• Tejada 0-3
• Matz 2-2, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets just couldn’t get it done against Wisler and the Braves last night, despite a first inning homer from David Wright, and the Mets lost the game 6-2. At the same time, the Nationals also lost so the Mets magic number dropped and they continued to get closer to the post-season. The Mets look to continue the trend of dropping their magic number today as Bartolo Colon takes the mound.

Colon is 14-12 over 30 games, 29 starts, over 182.1 innings with a 4.15 ERA while allowing a league leading 204 hits. In his last 6 games, 5 starts, he has tossed 37.1 innings with 25 K’s while posting a 1.21 ERA. He is 4-0 over as many games against the Braves this year posting a 3.51 ERA over 25.2 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Colon:

• Pierzynski 16-59, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Markakis 9-41, 5 2B
• Freeman 9-20, 3 2B
• Simmons 11-20, 2 2B, 3B
• Swisher 7-15, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Peterson 2-10, 2B, 3B
• Maybin 0-4

The Mets bats will try to wake up against Williams Perez who is 6-6 over 21 games, 18 starts over 104.2 innings with a 5.16 ERA. In his last three starts he is 2-0 over 18.2 innings with a 2.89 ERA including a start against where he allowed 3 ER over 6.0. The Mets have the following numbers vs Williams:

• d’Arnaud 4-6, HR
• Granderson 3-6, HR
• Herrera 1-3
• Lagares 0-4
• Campbell 0-3
• Cespedes 0-3
• Conforto 1-2
• Murphy 2-3, 2 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets beat the Braves yesterday and were able to put the last two games against the Yankees behind them. In the process, they dropped their magic number 7 and increased their division lead to 6.5 games. Last night Cespedes broke out of his slump going 3-4 with two doubles, Conforto hit a solo homer and the bullpen was great as they rolled 4-0.

Logan Verrett gets the start tonight as the Mets continue to stretch out their rotation. On the Mets this year he is 1-0 over 28.1 innings, 11 games and 2 starts with a 1.91 ERA while striking out 26. In his two starts as a Met he has allowed 2 ER over 13.0 innings with 11 strikeouts. He has faced the Braves once this year and that way back on June 20th where he allowed 2 hits and an earned run over 0.2 innings. Maybin is 0-1 against Logan while Simmons has a hit in one trip.

The Mets get another look at Matt Wisler who is 5-8 over 17 games and 16 starts, 86.1 innings with a 5.63 ERA. Since he allowed 2 ER over 6.0 innings against the Mets two Fridays ago, he allowed 4 ER over 6.0 innings against Toronto. His start against the Mets made his season numbers against the Amazin’s 14.0 innings with 3 ER. The Mets have the following numbers against Wisler:

• Duda 1-5
• Granderson 1-6
• Tejada 2-7, 2B
• Cespedes 2-3, 2B
• Conforto 2-3
• Cuddyer 2-3
• Murphy 1-3
• Plawecki 2-2

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets had a disappointing night yesterday. As soon as Harvey was pulled from the game, the bullpen imploded and the Yankees were able to beat the Mets 11-2. (Although, looking at this start coupled with the other, the bullpen was able to bail Harvey out when he allowed 7 ER so let’s just call it a wash). Anyway the Braves come to town tonight.

Jon Niese is 8-10 over 28 games and 167.0 innings with a 4.31 ERA. After a string of poor starts, Niese finally had a good one against the Braves his last time out holding them to 2 ER, 3 runs total, over 6.0 innings. Overall he’s 1-0 over 3 starts and 17.2 innings against the Braves with a 2.04 ERA. The Braves have the following numbers against Jon:

• Freeman 11-46, 2 2B, 2 HR
• Maybin 8-32, 3 HR
• Simmons 10-26, 2 2B
• Bourn 8-22, 2B
• Swisher 4-13, 2B, HR
• Markakis 3-10

The Mets draw one of the best pitchers in the Braves’ rotation: Shelby Miller. He’s 5-15, which is a league leading amount of losses. That being said he’s made 30 starts, including two complete game shutouts with a 3.00 ERA over 186.0 innings. Shelby is in the midst of a rough September where he has allowed 15 runs, 13 earned over 14.0 innings. Against the Mets this year he has allowed 6 ER over 12.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Miller:

• Duda 4-10, 2B, HR
• Uribe 2-9
• Cespedes 1-7
• Granderson 2-7, 2B
• Murphy 3-7, 2B
• Cuddyer 3-6, 2B
• Flores 2-6, 2B
• K Johnson 3-6, 2B
• Wright 3-6, 2B, HR

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Yankees play the rubber game of the series on the National Stage tonight as the Mets look to rebound from yesterday’s loss. The Yankees really needed to win yesterday’s game and they took advantage of the two bad pitches that Syndergaard threw (throwing my biases aside, that may have been the best 5 ER over 6 IP outing, I’ve ever seen). The Mets will look to wake up their offense that for the first time in a while, looked a little asleep. On top of those story lines, we have the rematch of the April game against Sabathia and Harvey.

Matt Harvey will have a limited outing today. On the season he is 12-7 over 171.2 innings over 26 starts with a 2.88 ERA. His last start, his first after his innings controversy, was abysmal as he allowed 7 ER over 5.1 innings, but the Mets eventually won the game. Way back in April he had a fantastic start against the Yankees allowed 2 ER over 8.2 innings while striking out 7. The Yankees have the following numbers against Harvey:

• Headley 1-8, HR
• Gardner 2-7
• Drew 1-4, 2B
• McCann 0-3
• A-Rod 0-4
• Beltran 1-3
• Ellsbury 0-3

Sabathia is 4-9 on the season with a 4.93 ER over 26 starts and 149.2 innings. He’s been better in September allowing 1 ER, 3 runs total over 11.1 innings and overall has been better since August because before that he was terrible. Against the Mets earlier this year he allowed 7 ER over 5.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against CC:

• Cuddyer 15-64, 4 2B, 2 HR
• Uribe 9-47, 2 3B, HR
• Granderson 4-22
• K Johnson 5-15
• Cespedes 1-11
• Wright 4-12, 2B
• Duda 2-6, HR
• Tejada 2-5, 2B
• Lagares 3-3, 3B

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets and Yankees continue the Subway Series: Queens Edition this afternoon with Michael Pineda going up against Noah Syndergaard. Syndergaard is 8-6 over 21 starts and 129.1 innings this year with a 3.20 ERA and 137 strikeouts. After a series of average to below average starts, really for the entire month of August with the exception of his first start in the month, Noah finally had a strong start to kick off September after 12 days rest going 7.0 innings allowing 1 ER and striking out 8. Noah wasn’t called up yet when the Mets and Yankees met earlier in the season.

Michael Pineda is 10-8 over 23 games and 139.2 innings this year with a 4.25 ERA. Around mid-May it looked Pineda was going to be on track for a stellar season, similar to his shortened season to the year before. Since returning in late August he has made four starts over 21.2 innings with a 5.82 ERA. Earlier this season when he faced the Mets he held the Amazin’s to 1 ER over 7.2 innings while striking out 7. The Mets have the following numbers against Pineda:

• Cuddyer 1-8
• Granderson 2-5, 2B
• Campbell 1-3, 2B
• Cespedes 0-3
• Duda 0-2
• Flores 1-3
• Lagares 0-3
• Murphy 0-3
• Kirk 1-3

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets dropped a series at home against the Marlins and it look to rebound against the Yankees in the second leg of the Subway series. The Yankees are in crunch mode as they still have a high, high chance of making playoffs but are trying to win the division. The Mets on the other hand have a magic number of 9 and are looking to wrap this up sooner than later.

Steven Matz gets the start for the Mets. He’s 3-0 over 4 starts and 24.0 innings with a 1.88 ERA while logging 22 strikeouts. In his two starts since returning from the DL, he has allowed 3 ER over 10.1 innings (2.61 ERA) while walking 4 and striking out 8. He has never faced the Yankees in a major league game, or any batters on the Yankees roster.

The Mets draw the Yankee ace today as Tanaka comes to Queens with a 12-6 record over 22 starts and 143.0 innings with a 3.40 ERA. After some average starts in late August, early September, he has locked it down in his last two starts allowing 1 ER over 15.0 innings with 17 strikeouts. His only start against the New York Mets was a good one as he shutout the Mets over 9.0 innings while allowing only 4 hits and striking out 8. The Mets have the following numbers against Tanaka:

• Cespedes 3-10
• Murphy 1-4
• Wright 0-4
• E Young 1-4, 2B
• Duda 0-3
• Granderson  0-3
• Recker 0-3
• Tejada 0-3

Let’s Go Mets!

Well all good things have to come to an end and the Marlins were able to snap the Mets 8 game winning streak last night as deGrom had a rough night and the Mets lost 9-3. The Nationals won so they picked up a game and we enter a second straight game of the Mets magic number at 10. Tonight the Mets look to win the series with the Marlins before moving on to a weekend series with the Yankees.

Bartolo Colon, the former National League player of the week, gets the start tonight. On the season he is 14-11 over 29 games and 28 starts with 176.2 innings, a 4.13 ERA and a league leading 197 hits. In his last four starts (plus one inning of relief), he has pitched 31.2 innings with a 0.57 ERA, a 4-0 record, 23 K’s and 4 walks. This will be Colon’s 6th start against the Marlins. In his first 5 he has allowed 9 ER over 37.2 innings, which is a 2.15 ERA. The Marlins have the following numbers against Colon:

• Suzuki 34-112, 3 2B, 3B, 3 HR
• Yelich 7-22, 3 2B
• Gordon 7-20
• Prado 5-17
• Realmuto 3-13, 2 2B
• Dietrich 2-11
• Hechavarria 3-12, 2 2B
• Ozuna 2-11, 2B
• Bour 3-10, HR

The Mets bats draw rookie Adam Conley who is 3-1 over 11 games, 7 starts this year posting a 4.93 ERA over 42.0 innings of work with 38 K’s. He has never started against the Mets but he has faced them in relief allowing 1 ER over 2.1 innings. Since becoming a starter on August 12, he has tossed 28.2 innings over six starts with a 5.34 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Granderson 0-1
• Cespedes 0-1
• d’Arnaud 0-1
• Flores 1-1, 2B
• Duda 0-1
• Tejada 1-1, 2B

Let’s Go Mets!

The 2015 Mets continue to have no chill!

Yesterday Logan Verrett made a great spot start giving the Mets 5.0 innings of 1 run baseball. Gilmartin gave the lead back to the Marlins but the 2015 Mets came roaring back right away off the bat of d’Arnaud plus a clutch, go ahead hit from the captain. Also the first run of the game came from a Cespedes solo shot, but that’s not really news at this point. The Mets will look for win #9 in a row tonight.

Jacob deGrom is 13-7 over 27 games and 176.0 innings with a 2.40 ERA while striking out 184 batters. In his last three starts he has pitched 19.0 innings striking out 23 batters with a 3.32 ERA. In his two starts against the Marlins this year, he has allowed 3 ER over 13.0 innings while striking out 12. The Marlins have the following numbers against Jacob:

• Ozuna 5-17, 2B
• Yelich 4-16, 2B
• Gordon 3-12
• McGehee 3-11, 2B
• Bour 2-6
• Hechavarria 3-10, 2B
• Mathis 1-5
• Prado 2-6, 2B

The Mets will get another look at Tom Koehler who is 9-13 over 28 games, 27 starts over 164.2 innings with 121 K’s. He’s off to a good start in September allowing 4 ER over 14.0 innings and 14 K’s. In four starts against the Mets this year he is 0-2 allowing 21 runs, 20 earned over 17.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

• Duda 3-24, 2 2B
• Murphy 6-27, HR
• Tejada 7-22, 4 2B
• Wright 6-24, 3 2B
• Granderson 4-19
• Lagares 6-23, 3B
• d’Arnaud 5-12, 2B
• Flores 3-11, 2 2B
• Cespedes 3-6, 2B, 3B
• Conforto 1-5, HR

Let’s Go Mets!